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Background and Objective: Tinea versicolor is a common fungal infection of the skin caused by the dimorphic lipophilic yeast Pityrosporum orbicular (Malassezia furfur). Lesions begin as multiple small, circular macules of various colors. The upper trunk is most commonly affected due to the side effects of oral treatment and drug resistance, this study was done to compare the therapeutic efficacy of topical terbinafine versus topical ketoconazole in Tinea versicolor. Materials and Methods: This Randomized double blind clinical trial study was conducted between 2008-09. Sixty nine patients with a clinical diagnosis of pityriasis versicolor confirmed by microscopic potassium hydroxide (KOH) examination were taken for the study. Patients randomly divided into 2 treatment groups: 35 patients in terbinafine group, treated by terbinafine 1% once daily for 2 weeks and 34 patients in ketoconazole group, treated with ketoconazole 2% once daily for 2 weeks. Five patients of terbinafine and 4 patients of ketoconazole groups were excluded due to lack of follow-up. Patients were followed up at monthly intervals for 3 months and recurrence and cure rate for each subject were recorded. Data was analyzed by SPSS-16, t student and Chi-Square test. Results: The mean moderate cure rate obtained one month after treatment was 20% in terbinafine group versus 3.3% in ketoconazole group, and there was no any significant difference between two groups. The mean moderate cure rate two month after treatment was 67.7% in terbinafine group and 60% in ketoconazole group (P<0.05). The mean complete cure rate three month after treatment was 73.3% in terbinafine group and 10% in ketoconazole group (P<0.05). The percent of positive KOH examination, three month after treatment was 10% in terbinafine group and 36.7% in ketoconazole group (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that terbinafin is more effective than ketoconazole in treatment of tinea versicolor.

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Background and Objective: The risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) is proportional to the LDL-C lipoprotein. Due to frequent use of Friedwald formula in estimation of LDL-C in most laboratories, this study was done to compare the Friedwald formula and direct measurement to determine the serum levels of LDL-C Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on of 598 patients 226 male and 372 female whome referred to Imam Ali hospital Andimeshk cityin Khozestan province of Iran for health check up during 2009. 5 ml of the venous blood was drown. Total cholesterol (TC) (mg/dl), Triglyceride (TG) (mg/dl), HDL-C (mg/dl) and LDL-C (mg/dl) of serum are measured with Pars azmun company kits. The Friedwald formula was used for estimation of LDL-C. The K=3, 3.5 and 5 were used to stimate the lipid by Friedwald formula. Data were analyzed using SPSS-18, Pearson correlation coefficient and ANOVA tests. Results: A total of 598 serum samples collected 37.8% were men and 62.2% women. The mean age of participants was 38.8±10.77 years. Minimum age 21 years and maximum age was 77 years. Mean deviation for TG≤150, 201-300 and 301-400 in Friedwald formula (k=5) were -13.01±8.79, -17.11±13.17 and -18.63±18.54, respectively and with k=3 are -.39±12.04, -0.078±18.55 and 0.04±25.55 and for TG between 151-200 is -9.72±10.54 and with k=3.5 is equal to 0.82±13.70. Pearson correlation test showed that direct measurment and calculated from the equation Friedwald, for triglycerides in the area equal to or less than 150, 151-200, 201-300 and 301-400 mg/dl, with correlated to Pearson correlation coefficient were 0.982, 0.991, 0.991 and 0.975, respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that the direct measurement method is superior to the Friedwald equation, otherwise, equation Friedwald formula with K=3 is recommended.

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Background and Objective: Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) paly a role in nitric oxide (NO) generation. Despite the beneficial effects of NO on different body systems its overproduction of produce reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and nitrosilation of proteins. This study was done to evaluate the effect of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and NG-Monomethyl-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NMMA) on inhibition of nitric oxide synthase activity. Materials and Methods: In this laboratory study, Nitric oxide synthase was extracted from 500 grams of sheep kidney by homogenization, ammonium sulphate precipitation and column chromatography on DEAE-32 Cellulose and 2', 5'-ADP-agarose. During purification, protein content was measured according to the Bradford and enzyme activity was assayed using the Griess reactions the inhibitory effects of 25 μΜ concentrations of ADMA and L-NMMA on purified enzyme were determined. Results: Specific activity and yield of NOS were 0.6 units/mg protein and 0.9%, respectively. Molecular weight of purified enzyme was 54 KD with SDS-PAGE. ADMA and L-NMMA in 25 μΜ concentrations reduced enzyme activity by 76 and 61.2%, respectively. Km values for NOS in absence and in presence of ADMA and L-NMMA were 5.32 μM, 31.25 μM (P<0.05) and 14.29 μM (P<0.05), respectively. Vmax for NOS in absence and presence of inhibitors was not changed. Conclusion: ADMA and L-NMMA have competitive inhibitory effect on NOS activity and ADMA have higher inhibitory effect than L-NMMA.